Good Bye Lapaz

We left La Paz early this morning and boarded the first of three buses (so far) that are taking us to Cusco. We will spend the day in Cusco and then get on a night bus that will take us to Lima tomorrow, another 24 hours by bus.
La Paz was probably the most inspiring and interesting city we have been in so far. It’s also one of the trickiest and least 1st world cities I have been in. First of all we stand out like soar thumbs there, and I never like that. It also is constantly having protests and demonstrations, making things that much more unpredictable. On the flip side it is so culturally interesting. As I mentioned before there are tons of traditional looking ladies everywhere wearing their colorful shawls and slings. Most of the city’s housing looks like adobe brick legos – one built right on top of the other. Besides being at 12,000 ft and surrounded by snow capped peaks my favorite part about this city is their markets. There is a neighborhood where there are market booths taking up dozens of blocks selling everything from shampoo to DVDs to fruit to dried llama fetuses (yes, it’s true). They call it the witches market and it kept us entertained for hours. Last night for our final meal we sat down at one of their fast food joints, which consists of one or two stout little ladies squatting in front of a big boiling pot of soup, or meat, or who knows what. Then there are these small little stools surrounding the pot where you can sit down and be fed. They serve you on their own plates so you have to stay to eat if you want a plate; otherwise it ends up in a plastic bag. When we first sat down we got plenty of stares; curious eyes peaking up from their own mound of meat and potatoes. It only took a few minutes though of piecing together a sentence or two to make friends. By the time we left practically the whole group of them said good bye. Best part – our stomachs survived! I wasn’t’ brave enough to get the meat, but Teri loved it and our stomachs are both doing well.

A few other activities La Paz involved a football match we went to with a bunch of our friends that we have been traveling with for the past week or so. Another was riding mountain bikes down the worlds most dangerous road [dun dun dun]. The football was a blast. We ended up in the rowdy crowd with our faces painted and flags waving. We stood up and jumped the entire time. Partly because it was fun and partly because I think the crowd would have pummeled us if we hadn’t. By the end I could following along with a few of the chants, but still had no idea what I was saying.

The biking I was a bit skeptical of only because I can do it for free at home, plus I haven’t been on a bike since my accident and I wasn’t sure how 4 hours of downhill on dirt roads would feel. Turns out it was a great decision – I completely loved it. The company was started by a New Zealander who did the ride himself about 20 years ago. They have awesome full suspension bikes, plus they were the only company that had rescue equipment in case anyone went over the edge. It felt so good to be on a bike, plus we were riding down some really amazing terrain. It’s considered the world’s most dangerous road because it’s a single lane dirt road that winds from a high mountain pass of 14,000 ft to the jungle at 3.000 ft. and the cliff that parallels the road reflects that. It doesn’t help that while riding you are passing dozens of crosses for those who have gone over the edge. Up until 2006 it was the only road that could take you to La Paz from the area and dozens of trucks, buses, and cars have gone over the edge whether because of late night sleepy driving or simply trying to pass another vehicle coming in the opposite direction. Now it’s mostly utilized by tour groups taking willing bikers down the road, but even then there have been a hand full of deaths. There were plenty of places where if you went over the side you would drop up to 900 ft before stopping. Sounds sketch, but I tell you it was amazing. It felt so good to be on a bike plus at the end we got to hang out at an animal reserve where you could play with the monkeys that live there. And they weren’t the nasty greedy kind they have in Thailand – they were so sweet I wanted to stay.